κατάλογος

Forms

κᾰτᾰ́λογος (katálogos) m (genitive κᾰτᾰλόγου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek καταλέγω (katalégō, “to recount, enrol”), with the o-grade of λέγω (légō) seen in λόγος (lógos).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thucydides and Aristophanes (5th century BC) use it for the Athenian register of citizens liable for military service: a hoplite was “put on the list”, and troops “from the list” were the regular levy.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the military list the word spread to any register or list: a list of persons, the list of the members of the council, a genealogical list of ancestors in Plato, the list of regulations for the trierarchs in Demosthenes.^[2][3] Thucydides and Plutarch call the description of the Greek fleet in the second book of the Iliad the “catalogue of ships”, and a comic poet uses the phrase for a tediously long story.^[2][3] Plutarch also uses it for the act of enrolment itself, conscription.^[2] At Epidaurus it was the name of a committee of the council.^[3]

Latin borrowed it as catalogus.^[5] Medieval Greek used it for a list of names, and also for the clergy listed in it and for a kind of love poem.^[6] Today Modern Greek κατάλογος (katálogos) is a list or catalogue of names or things, its sense shaped by French liste.^[7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides and Aristophanes use it of the Athenian register of men liable for service.^[3][2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of a genealogical list, and Xenophon of the list of the council.^[2][3]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it of the regulations for trierarchs.^[2]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch calls the second book of the Iliad the catalogue of ships and uses the word for conscription.^[2][3]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular medieval Greek uses it for a list of names and for the clergy.^[6]
• Modern Greek – κατάλογος (katálogos) means a list or catalogue.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A List or register, especially of persons.^[2][3]
2. The official register of citizens liable for military service; the list of the council.^[3][2]
3. A catalogue; the “catalogue of ships” in the second book of the Iliad.^[2][3]
4. A genealogical list, a family tree.^[2]
5. A list of regulations.^[2]
6. Enrolment of soldiers, conscription.^[2]

Word family

• καταλογάδην (katalogádēn)

Related words

• καταλέγω (katalégō)
• λόγος (lógos)
• Latin catalogus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki